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Netflix pick for 7/14/15 – ‘The Legend of Drunken Master’

Some of you may be too young to know this, and some of you may be too old to remember, but the 90’s was kind of a worldwide coming out party for kung fu cinema. Having been born in earnest in the 1970’s in China, these “chop sockey” action flicks saw pale imitators crop up in America in the 80’s before we just finally started the importing the straight dope from Asia to our shores.

By the time the late 90’s rolled around, Chinese kung fu stars like Jet Li and Jackie Chan were getting roles in American movies like “Lethal Weapon 4” and “Rush Hour,” and no longer did we need non-Asian counterparts to pretend to martial arts masters in our movies. We finally got the real thing. One of the movies that helped make this transition happen was 1994’s “The Legend of Drunken Master.”Continue Reading …

#131 – Farm-A-Cological Diso

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In episode 131, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn talk about a bunch of the movie news and revelations coming out of Comic-Con, and Chris has three BOOK reviews – Wild, Under The Skin, and The Martian.

Also discussed:

Schwarzenegger’s opinions of the Predator sequels.

Ennio Morricone’s first Western score in 40 years.

The Iron Giant rerelease.

Movies recast with untrained animals.

Why Jackie Chan action movies are better than most.

Battling fatigue and much more, Chris and Drew deliver a most whacked out edition of the show. Enjoy!

Spoiler Bonus Episode – Terminator Genisys

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In this SPOILER bonus episode, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn talk in detail about Terminator Genisys, and they ask the essential question, “If a movie’s major twist is revealed in all of the marketing, can the movie truly be spoiled?”

Chris and Drew try their hardest to do just that, so unless you want to know about everything that happens in this movie, including the lame post-credits scene, save this episode until after you see the movie for yourself.

Otherwise, enjoy the spoils.

Netflix pick for 7/6/15 – ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’

2015 may be the year of the spy movie, but 2011 had a fantastic spy movie of its own, one with fantastic performances and tense, sure handed direction. “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” is all twists and turns and accusations and covert missions, with a healthy dose of infidelity, regret and personal as well as professional betrayal. There is a lot going on in this movie, so pay attention because it all adds up to something beautiful and melancholy and wonderful.

Back in 2011 this movie made my top ten list of the year. This is what I wrote at that time:

The anti-James Bond movie, this is a cold war era British spy film featuring great work from great actors and solid, assured direction from the director of Let The Right One In. There is very little actual action in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but the suspense just gets more intense as the story goes on, as retired super spy George Smiley (a most excellent Gary Oldman) goes on a hunt for a mole in the highest ranks of the British secret service. There is a definite 70’s vibe to this movie, with more than enough smoky backrooms and paranoia to satisfy Sydney Pollack, and the story is dense enough that multiple viewings would be rewarding. A lot of layers on this onion, that’s for sure, and well worth peeling back.

#130 – Hoopy Undue Pondiseedoo

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In episode 130, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn review Terminator Genisys and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.

Also discussed:

The Woz on the Steve Jobs trailer.

A Pinocchio live action movie is being made by some unlikely folks.

CHiPs is being made into a movie.

The Monopoly movie is still being produced.

The Rock got a cool fan letter.

16,000 people watched Back to the Future Part II with a live orchestra, and so much more!

Review: ‘Terminator Genisys’

When “The Terminator” came out in the early 1980’s, it hit like a bomb, a low-budget B-movie about a time travelling killer machine, expertly made, blending a chase thriller with science fiction and horror, and it was an instant success. It spawned a fantastic sequel almost a decade later which helped usher in a whole new era of special effects, and then…well, and then more sequels kept happening. They got goofier, sillier, dumber, not as impressive, and somehow worse with each new installment. Here we are in 2015 with the fifth film in this unkillable franchise, and it appears that “Terminator Genisys” just may be the worst of them all.

The story ties directly into the plot of the first movie, in that this film’s set up starts with Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) being saved by John Connor (Jason Clarke) and becoming his right hand man in the war against the machines, and how John Connor leading mankind to victory against the machines directly led to the start of the events in “The Terminator.” Kyle Reese gets sent back in time to save John Connor’s mom Sarah (Emilia Clarke) from the T-800 sent back to her kill, but when he gets to 1984, he finds that events aren’t happening as he expected them to because the timelines have been changed. Skynet has been sending back Terminators to different times to try to stop mankind from having a shot in the future against the machines, and this has changed everything. Sarah was saved by a Terminator when she was nine, and it raised her and trained her so by 1984 she was already a bad ass and really didn’t need Kyle Reese except to maybe father her child so John could be born. And also she plans to travel to 1997 in order to stop Skynet before it goes online and destroys the world, but for some reason Kyle knows they need to go to October 2017 to the true start of Skynet so they can stop them then.Continue Reading …

Crespodiso Film School – Spaghetti Westerns

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In this Crespodiso Film School BONUS episode, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn talk about the Western genre, and specifically talk about the Spaghetti Westerns of the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Chris talks a little about all the different kinds of Westerns out there, and there are way more than you would expect.

Review: ‘Ted 2’

Oh comedy sequels. Why do you even exist? We enjoyed the original the first time around when it was fresh and new and interesting, we laughed, we had a good time, and when it was all said and done, we told our friends about it and we all had a good laugh together as we recounted our favorite jokes and bits. And then a couple of years go by, and along comes the inevitable sequel, and we all go see it, and it is just not as good. We chuckle, maybe we’re amused throughout, but familiarity breeds contempt and seeing the same jokes repackaged just feeds right into the law of diminishing returns. It’s more of the same, but somehow it is also less. That is the essence of the comedy sequel. That is “Ted 2.”

When “Ted” came out a few years ago, the idea of a foul-mouthed talking teddy bear hanging out with Mark Wahlberg and doing crazy shit was novel, it was ridiculous and absurd and then we saw the movie and we were surprised when it worked so well. But there is a moment in the beginning of that movie in which it is explained that the world got used to Ted and his talking teddy bear status and he faded into cultural obscurity as a relic of a by-gone era (i.e. 1980’s celebrityhood), and when people encounter him, they don’t care as much as they used to. So should anyone be surprised that the movie is the same way? Because here is “Ted 2” and it is less special and interesting this time around because we’ve already seen this. We get it. It is a talking teddy bear and he hangs out with a guy and they smoke weed and love Flash Gordon and consume Bud Light in every other scene. Why are we spending another two hours with these guys?Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 6/29/15 – ‘Inglourious Basterds’

By 2009, Quentin Tarantino had already established himself as an auteur director of incredibly hip throwback cinema, all cool dialogue and twisty plots and references to other movies, overly violent and vulgar, films that felt effortlessly old school and contemporary at the same time. But then he released “Inglourious Basterds” and the world saw what happened when Mr. Tarantino actually had something to say.

Movies like “Pulp Fiction” and “Reservoir Dogs” and “Jackie Brown” are very cool and awesome and stand the test of time, but they also don’t actually say much. One is a cool collection of stories, one is at the most about the different faces of ultra manhood in the guise of a failed heist, and the third is an adaptation of a novel that just exists as a cool crime story, with Tarantino throwing shades of 1970’s blaxploitation on top of it all, and they are all good, really good even, but don’t have much to say. But with “Inglourious Basterds,” Tarantino starts out with a revenge fantasy war western man on a mission movie and slowly morphs it into a story about the power of cinema and how art can combat tyranny as a weapon. It is pretty incredible how this story evolves and the ending works on that meta-level where there is an amazing combination of imagery and theme (you know, real story telling), and it just might be Tarantino’s best movie. And that is something considering he made “Kill Bill.”Continue Reading …

#129 – Fresh Nostalgia

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In episode 129, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn review Ted 2, and Chris went to a 40th anniversary screening of JAWS.

There are new editions of Billy D’s Death at the Movies, Vox Populi, and Netflix Instant Pick of the Week, as well as a new Dr. Drew’s Two Cents segment.

Also discussed: Jared Leto is weird, we’re getting a lot of Batfleck, 2 Green Lanterns, Wolverine in X:Men – Apocalypse, a Fantastic Four – X:Men movie crossover, Furious 8 updates, Hannibal got cancelled, American Gods is coming, plus much more!

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